History
Origin
Infused with the blood of a green monkey that genetically altered him. As a child, Garfield Logan contracted with a rare illness called Sakutia and was cured by a serum from a green monkey. This serum had the unintended effect of turning his skin and hair green and gave him the ability to change into any animal (the colors and appearance of these animals changed depending on which artist was using the character at the time). Originally and currently known as Beast Boy, he was adopted by Elasti-Girl and Mento, members of the Doom Patrol. He later joined the West Coast team of the Teen Titans (known as Titans West), and was part of the New Teen Titans assembled by Raven. It was at this time that he took the name Changeling. He remained with various incarnations of the team, forming a close friendship with Cyborg.
Early Years
He later began using the name Beast Boy again, under which he got his own mini-series Beast Boy. Following a failed attempt to recreate "Titans West" as "Titans L.A.," he rejoined the main team. He has also worked as an actor, playing the role of an alien in the TV series Space Trek 2022 (which, even in the fictional setting, was a thinly disguised pastiche of Star Trek and Space: 1999, and was canceled following threats of legal action on the grounds of plagiarism).
Teen Titans
Beast Boy is a comic relief character. Whatever team he is part of, he likes to joke around with people and make jokes of the situations the team get themselves into. However, this is only a facade. In reality, Beast Boy is a boy who has suffered many hardships in his life (both his real parents have passed away, and then his foster mother, whom Garfield became very close to, died in battle along with virtually all of the other Doom Patrol members with whom he was part of the team. Also, his foster father was driven mad by a helmet he used to fight enemies). He also has lost many teammates and fell in love with Terra (a member of the Teen Titans) and was heartbroken to discover that she was a traitor working for Deathstroke and hated the Teen Titans with a passion. Even after her death, he refused to believe for a long time that she was a traitor and blamed Deathstroke for corrupting her and using her. As a result of all of this, he uses his jokes to cover the fact that he is scared of losing anyone else he is close to. Despite all of his hardships though, Garfield is friendly and upbeat. His best friend is Cyborg (also a member of the Teen Titans). He is also close with Bette "Flamebird" Kane, a former Titan who helped save his life on an adventure in Los Angeles. In the "Titans of Tomorrow" storyline, wherein the Titans glimpsed a grim, possible future, Beast Boy had changed his name to Animal Man (II) and fought alongside his fellow, fascist Titans to make the United States a police state. This future Beast Boy is shown as feral shaggy, and more bestial in appearance. He is also characterized as still bearing a grudge against a possibly-resurrected Terra, who, in this future, is a member of the more benign rival group Titans East.
Beast Boy and Raven
He became romantically attached to Raven, coming together in issue thirty of the latest Teen Titans comic. Raven had been developing feelings for him since her recent rebirth. Despite fan speculations that this affair was influenced by the Shipper fan community, writer Geoff Johns has gone on record to note that he had long been preparing these two slowly to have a relationship before the animated series even began. Due to the events in the "one year later" events, they have apparently separated. After trying to hold together a ragtag band of Titans, once Robin returned Beast Boy left the team to rejoin the Doom Patrol and aid his adoptive parents. Following attacks on various former Titans, it was determnined that the sons of Trigon were trying to destroy the group to establish a name for themselves. The Titans decided to reform to combat the threat. At the same time, Beast Boy tried to reconcile with Raven.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Animal Metamorph: Beast Boy has the ability to shapeshift into any animal that he has seen himself or has seen in an illustration (as is the case when he shapeshifts into an animal such as an extinct dinosaur).These transformations take only a second and Beast Boy has demonstrated that he is capable of rapidly changing his form with little or no effort expended. As a corollary to this power, he can transform back into his default form if an external force like magic transforms him into an animal. His power enables him to completely alter his body mass, being able to take the shape of animals far larger and heavier than himself, such as an elephant, a hippopotamus, or a Tyrannosaurus Rex (though until recent stories, such larger forms would physically exhaust him), or smaller and lighter animals such as mice and insects. However, he cannot change or return to a form if the space he occupies is too small and he cannot normally break the confines (as seen when he attempt to transform into a Tyrannosaurus Rex underneath a bridge and hits his head, instantly aborting the transformation). His power also enables him to alter his body structure and take forms of animals without limbs, like snakes, or those without skeletons like a jellyfish. In two notable instances, he has even taken the form of multiple individuals simultaneously (once as a swarm of fireflies, and again as a mass of barnacles). He also displayed this ability once in the animated series, becoming an endlessly-multiplying plague of amoeba. While in animal form, Beast Boy retains his human intellect, memories, and the ability to speak. No matter what form he takes, his skin, hair, and eyes remain green, making most of his animal forms easy to distinguish from real animals of that species. In the early comics, his coloration would change to that appropriate to the animal form he had taken, with only his head remaining green. Beast Boy has also shown the ability more than once to transform into alien animals, including sentient species such as the Gordanians.
- Physical Animal Enhancement: While as an animal, he gains all the physical abilities and characteristics of said animal, such as great strength (a gorilla), speed (a cheetah), and durability (a turtle), and abilities such as flight (various birds), and aquatic breathing (various fish). He can even gain the specific venom produced by specific snakes.
- Animal Communication: While in a particular animal form, Beast Boy can communicate with many forms of animals.
- Size-Shifting: As of late, he has demonstrated the ability to transform into animals many times larger than their actual forms: among others, he's been seen transforming into a human-sized tarantula and a giant snake. Whether this is a progression of his abilities or a new power altogether is unknown.
Abilities
- Knowledge of Different Species of Animals and their Abilities.
Strength
- Average in human form, increases or decreases to different animals
Weaknesses
- Unknown
In Other Media
Animation
Beast Boy appears in the Teen Titans animated series, voiced by Greg Cipes. In the series, Beast Boy (nicknamed "BB", and others) plays the role of the lighthearted jokester of the group, though often the butt of many jokes himself (similar to his comics self). He wears his old black and purple Doom Patrol uniform, complete with gray gloves and purple sneakers with seemingly velcro straps. Like with the other Titans, his appearance is much younger than in the comics. Also like in the comics, Beast Boy has the ability to transform into any animal he sees (whether they are from earth or not) to battle a variety of villains from Brother Blood to Billy Numerous. His favorite forms are a Pterodactyl (for flight and transporting his fellow Titans) and a Tyrannosaurus (for heavy-duty combat).
Beast Boy is generally portrayed as a carefree, scatter-brained and immature personality. He is prone to making jokes no one but himself (in particular, Raven) can laugh about, and generally displays few intellectual-based interests and little sense for tact (though on occasion, however, particularly in the fifth season, Beast Boy does show hidden intellectual and leadership qualities). His carefree behaviour is most likely conditioned by his resignation from the Doom Patrol, where Mento's harsh discipline and less than encouraging attitude had not allowed any free-wheeling. Beast Boy's closest friend among his teammates is Cyborg, with whom he shares a passion for video games and movies. Likewise they are prone to quarreling, especially about their diverging tastes in food; Beast Boy is a vegetarian who never gets tired about persuading his teammates into adopting his culinary tastes as well.
Like in the comics, Beast Boy also had a romantic relationship with Terra who had the power of Earth manipulation (geokinesis). As in the comic book, Terra betrays the Teen Titans as an ally of Slade (Deathstroke). Ultimately, she receives redemption in helping the Titans defeat Slade; however, she is turned to stone in the process. In a departure from the comic book, Beast Boy retains strong feelings for Terra. In the final episode "Things Change", Beast Boy encounters a girl looking like Terra (although it is unclear whether or not it was the real Terra, as he was the only Titan who saw her), apparently suffering from amnesia.
In the Season 3 episode "The Beast Within", Beast Boy is seen in a newly-gained "Super-Werewolf" form when he was doused with an experimental DNA compound. Beast Boy dislikes this form and refrains from using it again until he and the other Titans are fighting off Slade's fire-soldier army in "The End: Part 1" when they have to use their most powerful abilities to defeat them. He never uses it after then, suggesting that even with the strength and abilities it gave him, he considered it a "last resort" to be used
Season 5 of Teen Titans focuses on Beast Boy a great deal, as it deals with his history as a member of the animated series' incarnation of the Doom Patrol. Until "Homecoming", in which his former teammates make a guest appearance, Beast Boy was the only member of the Doom Patrol to appear on the show. In the second episode of the fifth season, Beast Boy becomes the first male Titan in the series to be explicitly referred to by his real name (Garfield). In "Titans Together", Beast Boy leads Herald, Jericho, Pantha, and Más on an assault on the Brotherhood of Evil. He remains the leader even after other Titans such as Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven join the fight, and only stands down from leadership when Robin is thawed.
He also appeared in the second season of Young Justice, titled Young Justice: Invasion, voiced by Logan Grove.
He appeared in Justice League vs. Teen Titans and Teen Titans: The Judas Contract, voiced by Brandon Soo Hoo.
Live action
Beast Boy will appear as one of the main characters in 'Titans portrayed by Ryan Potter.
Notes
- Although this character was originally introduced during DC's Earth-One era of publication, their existence following the events of the 1985-86 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths remains intact. However, some elements of the character's Pre-Crisis history may have been altered or removed for Post-Crisis New Earth continuity, and should be considered apocry